St. Paul United Methodist Church in Fayette will celebrate its 168th church anniversary on Sunday, October 27, during the regular worship hour at 11 a.m. This momentous occasion marks nearly two centuries of faith, service, and community engagement. The theme for this special service is “Building Up the Church.”

The church will welcome back former pastor Rev. Hadley Edwards as the guest speaker for the celebration. While a student at what was then Central Methodist College, Rev. Edwards served as pastor from 1979 to 1981 (and Lewis Chapel UMC, Glasgow) and brings decades of experience in ministry. St. Paul made statewide news during Rev. Edwards’ pastoral leadership for its integrated congregation. His Central classmates (black and white) began joining him every Sunday at St Paul. The word spread all the way to Kansas City, where the ecumenical church, St. Mark’s, sent television crews to record this remarkable happening. The congregation, black and white, old and young, worshiped together not because a church board voted it, but because a young man felt called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the love of Jesus to all who wanted to hear it.

After graduating from Central Methodist in 1981, Rev. Edwards later attended Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, graduating in May 1986. In June of 1982, his professional career with the United Methodist Church led him to Midland, Texas, where he served as pastor of Hollowell UMC for 15 years. He also led congregations at Mackey Chapel UMC in Odessa, Texas, and Bethany UMC in New Orleans, La.

Rev. Edwards served as the New Orleans District Superintendent for three years, beginning July 1, 2012. He was then appointed to serve in the seventh Ward of New Orleans, a new ministry in this area of the city, which had no United Methodist church presence since Hurricane Katrina. He retired from pastoral ministry in 2021 and now works to deliver messages through an online ministry called The Net Ministry.

Rev. Fatima Garikayi, pastor at St. Paul, and church members invite the community to join in the celebration, which will provide an opportunity for reflection on the church’s legacy, as well as looking forward to continuing its mission to serve the community and build up the body of Christ. Following the service will be a celebratory dinner at 12:30 p.m.

A Methodist congregation has worshiped at the corner of Davis and Mulberry streets in Fayette since 1856. A wooden structure was built on land donated by John Ewin and called Burton’s Chapel. The church maintained the name “Burton’s Chapel” until 1870 when the congregation became affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The current church building officially opened on Sunday, December 12, 1948. The name of the church changed in 1939 when the word “Episcopal” was dropped by the General Conference and became known as St. Paul Methodist Church. Finally, the name was changed to St. Paul United Methodist Church when the Methodist churches were united by the General Conference (Central West became consolidated with Missouri West Conference) in 1965.